Inland Rail is a significant infrastructure initiative designed to tackle Australia's major freight challenges along the east coast whilst creating opportunities for regional growth. The program serves as the 21st century counterpart to the A1 Highway which underpinned Australia's growth in the 20th century. By enhancing logistics flexibility, it supports the Australian Government’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
In 2022 Dr. Kerry Schott AO was appointed to undertake an independent review of the governance and delivery of Inland Rail. Her report highlights the program's struggles with affordability amidst rising material costs and post-pandemic economic recovery. Balancing infrastructure development with the increasing cost of living presents a formidable challenge as the deadline for carbon neutrality in 2050 looms ever closer.
Affordability must be a central theme in revitalising the Inland Rail Program while also addressing critical issues like community impact from flooding and broader environmental concerns. An operational approach to affordability is key. Australia, a leader in heavy haul railways, demonstrates operational efficiencies throughout its rail projects across Western Australia and Queensland - focusing on minimising the cost of freight determined as cost per tonne per kilometre. From investment in driverless trains in the Pilbara, to the development of battery technology across WA and Qld and progressing our journey in decarbonising rail and associated infrastructure – Australia is pulling its weight in exploring new opportunities to realise efficiencies on our freight networks.
As a project developer, Inland Rail must implement similar metrics and consider optimising infrastructure requirements based on enhanced performance efficiencies of the rail network. This includes revisiting the Operational Acceptability Criteria which dictate infrastructure needs, such as the number of passing loops required. These passing loops are approximately 2km long and require significant investment to construct and operate from a land use and carbon footprint perspective. Enhanced performance efficiencies would not only support the affordability objectives of Inland Rail, but also contribute to desired sustainability goals.
Table 1 Operational Acceptability Criteria
Table 1 illustrates the operational utilisation metrics that guide the requirements for infrastructure along a new freight/heavy usage rail corridor. The criteria of Resolved Path Allocation, Minimum Average and Utilisation are applied to determine performance efficiencies.
Resolved Path Allocation provides assurance around train plans during the development of new rail network infrastructure, fundamentally defining throughput capacity. These metrics are usually high for suburban and metro systems, as they have shorter headways and smaller trains with consistent and homogenous operation. However, for the Inland Rail program, achieving a result greater than 90% is a reasonable assumption for path allocation determination.
Minimum Average Delay defines the percentage of sectional transit times that are not met. Delays can be attributed to issues such as poor rolling stock performance and high ambient temperatures requiring slower sectional running through the application of Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSRs).
System Utilisation measures how efficiently the track infrastructure is used. This criterion varies based on the nature of track usage, i.e., mixed traffic or single-use traffic. Inland Rail is a freight corridor with single-use traffic, which lends itself to higher track utilisation parameters. Inland Rail can therefore use the freight focused nature to drive up the utilisation closer to 85%, also taking advantage of better power to weight ratio for certain train configurations.
With modern rolling stock and signalling solutions planned for the full operational commissioning of the Inland Rail program, planning for the middle to higher end of the “Acceptable” range for the operational criteria is achievable. This supports the staged development of the program and enhances overall affordability.
As a modern railway system with the aim of providing efficient, predictable access for freight services, Inland Rail has the opportunity to be a pioneering example of the application of performance standards for freight focused infrastructure. This could see the implementation of infrastructure utilisation metrics such as those demonstrated by the International Union of Railways (UIC) to express the levels of utilisation of railway infrastructure during various operational scenarios and mixes of traffic.
As the below-rail operator, Inland Rail could implement strategies for recovery time by increasing operational days or using track access agreements with operators that tie key performance indicators to operational efficiency. It could also investigate interface agreements with adjacent rail infrastructure managers such as the Country Regional Network (CRN), Sydney Trains and Queensland Rail to ensure that cross-boundary operations are robust. The focus herein would be on path allocation principle to avoid network complexities around a “run when ready” approach.
The operational approach to affordability not only addresses the fundamental requirements of the program but also provides a forward-looking strategy to ensure its success. The next challenge is to ensure value capture in the regions along the Inland Rail Corridor, addressing community concerns while laying the foundation for sustainable development that unlocks the future growth of regional Australia.
